November resolution! Instead of even attempting the insanity that is NaNoWriMo, I shall try to write something, even something very short, in both English and Finnish per week. So that's two (possibly very small) pieces of writing a week. Perhaps that is doable.

Friends with female parts! Do you prefer pads, tampons, or something else? Why? I'm curious because I have spent much of my fertile life being slightly freaked out by the thought of tampons, but went ahead and bought a pack yesterday anyhow for the first time ever. Trying to talk myself into using them before I'm done, because who knows when my next menses come. It's not uncommon for me to go half a year without a peep.

TMI and whining

Having a cold and a UTI at the same time, however mild they might both be, is just...distinctly unfair. The general mess that is our flat isn't helping my mood, either. I was supposed to tidy stuff up this weekend. :( Oh well. Maybe I can go through some of the clothes in my closet, that should be fairly non-strenuous. Also will maybe possibly go out and buy cranberry juice, that shit's supposed to help with private bit infections.

Okay, here's the deal. Some vital part of my laptop is in its death throes, and that means I very probably won't be around for about a week. Sorry 'bout that. I'm currently busy salvaging important stuff after lappy dear miraculously deigned to turn on, but when I'm done with that, I'll probably just leave the poor dear alone. I have a newly-assembled PC waiting for me in Oulu, originally intended for gaming purposes but now to be saddled with all my computing needs.

verb [with object]
1. Make obscure, unclear, or unintelligible: the spelling changes will deform some familiar words and obfuscate their etymological origins
1.1. Bewilder (someone): the new rule is more likely to obfuscate people than enlighten them

Origin late Middle English: from late Latin obfuscat- 'darkened', from the verb obfuscare, based on Latin fuscus 'dark'.

"Obfuscator, obfuscate, make my brain as flat as a cake," muttered the new girl, tapping her sparkly pen against the page. Her book was most definitely not open to the chapter on European colonialism. Janet shifted on her chair, attempting to stretch her legs while looking at the movement of the new girl's fingers. What was her name? Helen— no, Ellen? Worth a try.

"Ellen," she hissed. No reaction. "Ellen!" she tried again, this time reaching over the gap between their desks just enough to poke the neon-green-clad elbow that jutted out towards her. Grey eyes flashed to Janet, then made an exaggerated roll in their sockets.

"It's Lena, you twit," the girl hissed back. Then she shushed Janet and pointedly turned her attention to Ms Ramsworth.

Lena. Right. Janet glanced at her watch, shrugged, and tuned in.

~

"Hey! Lena!" A girl's voice pierced through the instrumental solo currently blaring from her headphones. She simultaneously lifted an ear pad and an eyebrow, sweeping a glance over the person currently encroaching on her personal bubble. Her gaze paused briefly at the unicorn pendant dangling just above neckline, then at the lip piercing, before she flicked it up to deep yellow eyes.

Lena blinked, quirking a smile. "Nice contacts...twit," she said. The other girl blew out a short breath through her nose, her forehead scrunching ever so slightly. "You're Janet, right?" Lena steered to the side and sat on the corner of a table covered with leaflets in a hundred screaming colours. Janet the twit perched right next to her.

"Yeah. So what was that word you used just now? In class I mean."

A faint scent of peppermint drifted to Lena's nostrils, and she absently rubbed at the bridge of her nose. Then she grinned. "From what I can tell so far, it's Ms Ramsworth's favourite pastime." Janet blinked at her, and she sighed. "To obfuscate means to deliberately make something confusing."

She pushed off the table and read the direction signs hanging from the ceiling, then plucked a long red hair off her sleeve. Before she let it fall to the floor, she grasped Janet's chin with the fingers of her free hand and planted a lipstick print right at the corner of the girl's mouth.